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NTL
staff in 'white powder' scare
Ten NTL workers from Guildford were rushed to hospital yesterday
following the discovery of unidentified white powder in a package.
Emergency services - along with CBRN (chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear)-trained officers - attended the scene before cordoning off the cableco's offices.
Staff who came in contact with the mysterious substance were taken to the decontamination unit at Royal Surrey County Hospital.
According to one eyewitness, officers were walking around in protective chemical suits. "The whole area was blocked off - it was like a scene from a TV drama," he told The Register.
However, late in the day police began to wind down the operation after arresting a man for possession of controlled drugs.
Emergency services were called at 9.40 am Tuesday morning by staff at NTL offices in Guildford.
A package was picked up by a member of staff who thought it contained TV equipment. When the box was opened it was found to contain an "unidentified white powder".
"NTL staff were concerned what the powder might be and alerted the emergency services," said police.
"Ten members of staff who came into contact with the substance have been taken to the Royal Surrey County Hospital for decontamination but do not appear to have suffered any ill effects," said a spokesman.
Police took every precaution but stressed that they had no evidence to suggest that the incident was "terrorist related".
"Following the incident at NTL offices in Guildford this morning in which an unidentified white powder was found in a box, a 27-year-old man from Guildford has now been arrested for possession of controlled drugs. He is currently in custody at Guildford police station.
"The incident is now in the process of being stood down and the cordons are now being lifted. There have been no injuries during the incident," the police statement said.
22 October, 2003, the register
Suspect
package found at Basingstoke concert hall
Police were called following a report of a suspect package at
the Anvil Concert Hall in Basingstoke at about 10:45 this morning.
The Anvil was immediately evacuated.
On arrival police officers discovered a device which was considered to be suspicious.
A decision was made to evacuate a large area of the shopping centre – principally the Malls and the area around Alençon Link and Churchill Way.
This resulted in a number of road closures causing considerable traffic congestion throughout the town.
The Royal
Logistics Corps were called upon to examine the device and a controlled
explosion was carried out.
10 Oct 2003, Hants Constabulary
Parcel bomb blast in Rome days before EU summit
A parcel bomb exploded at Italy's Labour Ministry in central Rome
on Thursday, causing minor damage and no serious injuries, just
two days before nearly 30 leaders are due at a European Union
summit in the city.
Italy's interior minister, chairing a meeting in Brussels, laid
the blame for the blast at the feet of the Red Brigades, a shadowy
ultra-left-wing guerrilla movement which carried out a series
of attacks across Italy in the 1970s and 80s.
''This confirms a trend on the part of the Red Brigades. They
want to target those who are trying to reform the labour market,''
Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu told reporters.
''I can say without any difficulty that this is a very worrying
sign of a new type of terrorism.''
As well as the package sent to the Labour Ministry, similar parcels
arrived at the office of the Sardinian regional government in
Rome and a military police station in the Sardinian capital Cagliari,
where it exploded in a man's hands.
There were no immediate claims of responsibility and it was not
immediately clear if the attacks were linked, although police
said all packages had been mailed from Sardinia.
Sardinia has for decades been home to a low-level insurrectionist
movement opposed to rule from Rome.
The blasts come days after the secret services issued warnings
of such a threat. Labour Ministry officials, unions and industry
chiefs have been battling over details of government- backed pension
reforms that have drawn union anger.
Last year, as the government was trying to push through labour
reforms, a consultant working on the proposals was gunned down
in front of his home. The attack was claimed by a group describing
itself as a splinter of the Red Brigades.
SUMMIT SECURITY
Thursday's blast was condemned across the political spectrum.
''The parcel bomb is a re-run of a familiar script -- an attempt
to raise tensions and rock the boat,'' Italy's top three trade
unions, which have called a general strike later in the month
to protest the pension changes, said in a statement.
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's aides said the violence was
aimed at scuppering his pension proposals.
''There is someone out there who doesn't want change, who is afraid
of our country modernising. But we will carry on,'' said Renato
Schifani, head of Berlusconi's Forza Italia party.
The cabinet is due to meet on Friday to approve changes to Italy's
deeply indebted retirement system.
The following day 28 heads of state and government are due to
meet in Rome for a summit to agree on an inaugural European Union
constitution. Pisanu said the blasts would not alter security
plans for the meeting.
''We had already put in place sufficient security measures...
to cope with any possible situation and those measures will be
carried out,'' he said.
2 October 2003, MSNBC
Bomb
hoax against NZ radio host
A New Zealand radio show host who caused outrage by describing
the UN chief as a "cheeky darkie" has been forced off
air by a bomb threat.
The studio of Paul Holmes was evacuated 15 minutes before his
show was due to end on Friday.
A caller had phoned NewstalkZB station warning a bomb would go off if Mr Holmes was not taken off the air, according to local media.
Mr Holmes' remarks about UN Secretary General Kofi Annan have been roundly condemned by listeners, the country's prime minister and race relations groups.
He has since apologised to his audience at NewstalkZB, where he is described as having a "quirky sense of humour". He is one of New Zealand's highest-profile and highest paid broadcasters.
The station was forced to play music for an hour and a half on Friday, while police searched the building. Sniffer dogs reportedly found nothing.
Paul Holmes' controversial comments had been prompted by Mr Annan's speech on Tuesday urging the international community to help strengthen the UN as an instrument for crisis resolution.
26 September
2003, BBC
Toy sparks bomb alert
A children's electronic toy sent through the post caused a bomb
scare in Ipswich on Friday morning.
Suffolk Police and bomb disposal experts were called to the main
sorting office..
A bomb disposal unit from Colchester was called to the scene and the building was evacuated.
After investigating
details on the packaging, officers discovered the package contained
a children's toy with the batteries left inside.
26 September 2003, BBC
Chef
'wanted to bomb Gatwick'
A Portuguese chef planned to bomb Gatwick Airport after a row
over a £1m compensation claim, a court heard.
Jose Pestana, 41, threatened to use a bomb to kill the manager
of the airport's Garfunkels restaurant, Lewes Crown Court heard
on Tuesday.
He was angry after having a £1m claim for compensation refused after hurting his hand when he worked there, the trial heard.
When Sussex Police raided his flat five miles away in Crawley they found a home-made bomb hidden under his bed.
Mr Pestana, who is originally from the Portuguese island of Madeira, has denied two charges under the Terrorism Act.
The court heard the device found at his flat in March consisted of two paper tubes filled with firework powder, strapped to two butane gas cylinders and a fuse.
The area around his flat in Langley Parade, Crawley, had to be evacuated and army bomb disposal experts called in to make the bomb safe.
Army experts said the device was capable of causing a grenade-like explosion.
23 September
2003, BBC
'Horse
bomb' hits Colombia town
A bomb strapped to a horse has exploded in a market in north-eastern
Colombia, killing at least eight people, including a two-year-old
child.
Fifteen people were injured in the blast in the town of Chita,
240 kilometres (150 miles) north-east of the capital Bogota.
Residents were crowded into the area in preparation for the town's weekly market when the incident occurred, army spokesman Sergeant Luis Hernandez said.
The Colombian authorities blame the country's largest rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), for the attack.
The rebels have used bombs strapped to donkeys and horses in past attacks.
The FARC and a smaller leftist rebel army have been waging war on the Colombian Government for nearly 40 years and on average 3,500 civilians caught in the crossfire have been killed each year.
11 September 2003, BBC
Bombs
shake Nepal capital
Bomb blasts in Nepal have killed a boy and injured more than 12
others.
Maoist rebels are being blamed for a series of explosions, which targeted government buildings in and around the capital, Kathmandu, within a few hours of each other on Monday morning.
More than 100 rebels, soldiers and civilians have died since peace talks between the Maoists and the government collapsed last month.
The rebels have spent the last seven years fighting for a communist state in Nepal, one of the world's poorest countries.
More than 7,000 people have died in the conflict.
8
September 2003, BBC
Leftists
claim Greek court bomb
A group calling itself Revolutionary Struggle has claimed responsibility
for two bomb blasts near the main courts in the Greek capital,
Athens.
The bombs exploded at around three o'clock on Friday morning local time, inside the complex of courts and prosecutors officers in the capital.
A policeman who was injured in the leg has now been released from hospital, and although there was some damage to one of the buildings, the courts operated normally throughout the day.
The group which has claimed responsibility for the attack has not been heard of before, but a government spokesman has indicated he thinks it may be linked to a radical left-wing organisation many of whose members were arrested last year.
5 Sep 2003,
BBC
